Friday, January 31, 2014

Plant Theft In Our National Parks

Although I have been absent from this blog for some time due to my
work as Managing Director at the Boxerwood Nature Center and Woodland Garden in
Lexington, Virginia, I have been maintaining my attentiveness to what is happening
in our Parks.

I was a bit concerned or perhaps even
miffed when I discovered that the History Channel was introducing a new program
entitled “Appalachian Outlaws.” This
series focuses on the lives of ginseng hunters working in the Southern
Appalachians. I could not help but think
that this might increase the interest in “cash crops” and glorify those that pilfer
these plants that grow wild on our protected lands. I noted in the first episode of this series
that one of the featured characters led the camera crew onto US Forest Service
land to hunt ginseng illegally. In one
scene a Forest Service employee shows up and they have to run to escape. That certainly added to the excitement and
mystique of the show.

Ginseng has become hard to find in many areas. On the show one of the characters states that
this is the fault of the government putting so much land into protection as
parks and forests. During interviews
with illegal ginseng hunters that were apprehended during my career we learned
that they were moving to Virginia because you could not find ginseng in their
states any more. When asked why, their
theory was that it was all hunted out in their home areas. That is the impact on natural resources that
these activities going unchecked can produce.

There are areas where hunting and collecting of ginseng is
permitted and regulated in some instances by permits and seasons. This legal activity is acceptable and
approved by scientists and agencies. The
temptation of the money that could be made during our hard economic times fans
the flames and intent of those willing to cross the line of legality and those
forced by desperation to seek some profit.

I am not saying that what appears below is related to the new
History Channel series, but does reflect what is happening in our parks. This is an example of what is occurring and
was taken from the National Park Service Morning Report dated January 31, 2014.

Cumberland Gap NHP

Six Ginseng Poachers Successfully Prosecuted

The
fall ginseng season was busy at Cumberland Gap and rangers employed special
shifts and focused patrols to combat poaching within the
park. The government shutdown caused reduced staffing levels during
the peak of the season, but rangers were able to apprehend six people and
recover a total of 414 roots and one rattlesnake prior to the shutdown:

August 19 – Rangers contacted
two men on the Chadwell Gap Trail as they were about to be picked up at
the trailhead. They were found with 18 and 78 ginseng roots
respectively. Ranger Brad Cope was case agent.

September 15 – A man was
observed capturing a rattlesnake on the Highway 58 road shoulder and being
picked up by a vehicle. Rangers stopped the vehicle, contacted the
man, and discovered 11 ginseng roots in his pocket and the rattlesnake in
the trunk. The vehicle’s occupants said that they had dropped him off
at the Kentucky visitor center earlier in the day and that he had called
them to pick him up in the Virginia section of the park. Ranger Mike
Ausmus was case agent.

September 23 – Rangers received
information regarding possible digging in the Muddy Gut area of the
park. They contacted two men who were found in possession of 39 and
37 ginseng roots respectively. Several of these roots in their
possession were found to be marked with a dye and micro tags identifying
them as coming from within the park. This was the first case since the
park began its marking program in which marked ginseng was found on a
suspect, positively identifying roots as taken from the park. Ranger
Ben Byrnes was case agent.

September 26 – Rangers received
information regarding possible digging in the Old Baileytown Road area of
the park. They contacted two men who were found in possession of 115
and 116 ginseng roots respectively. Ranger Greg Johnston was case
agent.

All
six suspects pleaded guilty in federal court and were ordered to pay criminal
fines totaling $1,295 and civil restitution to the park totaling $6,045.
All recovered ginseng roots were inventoried and replanted in the park by
resource management personnel and will be monitored.

3 comments:

It's rather sad that television helps glorify things like this. Here in NY, the state has a certification program, which also encourages owners of woodlots to grow it or allow it to grow naturally. It's illegal to take it from state lands, but people still do it.

The Book

BUY NOW

Award

"A Park Ranger's Life: Thirty Two Years Protecting Our National Parks" is a collection of stories from the career of retired National Park Ranger Bruce Bytnar. You will find stories about bears, lost hikers, criminals, forest fires, and learn the true story of the challenges and rewards of being a National Park Ranger.

"A Park Ranger's Life" has received praise from those with backgrounds in our National Parks and readers interested in learning more about our parks and a career as a ranger.

The book has been adopted by universities across the country as required reading for students studying resource protection and park related curriculmns.